A mass meeting was held in March 1910, to discuss the bonding of a new school house. The white school building, located where the present Wallowa Elementary is sited, was considered too small for the city's educational needs.

Most of those who attended the meeting wanted a brick school house, and a petition was drawn up for $20,000 of bonds (increased the next day to $25,000). The bond was carried by a vote of 76 to 50. The April 15, 1910, Wallowa Sun reported that of the 126 who voted, seven were women. The bond provided $20,000 to build the school and $5,000 for grounds, furnishings and to pay off an old bond of $2,700.

"Miss Nell Davis has completed the four-year program, and the first annual commencement will be held this Friday at the Methodist Church. This is quite an honor," the Sun reported on May 20,1910.

Plans for the new school house drawn by architect S.E. Watkins were accepted in July and the new school house was constructed during the fall and early winter of 1910 by Howland Contracting Co..

Classes started in the new structure at the end of January 1911, with an enrollment of 174 students in the structure, starting with grade 3 and including 20 high school students. Fifty children in the first two grades were taught in the white wooden building next door. Miss Strong was principal, with Miss Williamson as the assistant.

"It is one of the finest school houses in the Northwest and is up to date in every respect," said the Wallowa Sun. "The completed building and furnishings cost the district $23,800, which is a credit to the city as well as the present school board."

The second Wallowa High School graduating class - and the first in the new schoolhouse - had three students receiving diplomas, Mona Dougherty, Edith Fisher and Lillian Johnson. All three planned to attend the college the next year. The commencement program included a valedictory address by Miss Johnson, which - the Sun reported - was titled "Music" and "instilled some very interesting thoughts into a subject usually a tiresome ordeal in a school program." The singing of the high school choir was described as "a treat to all."

By December, 1911, the Wallowa district had 469 pupils, "the largest number of school children in the county."

When the first Wallowa High School building opened in 1911 subsequently burned in a 1922 fire, the town rallied to build another school - the one that stands and continues operation today - which was almost an exact replica of the original building.